Where are we now?
„NATO is obsolete“ and „America first“ – with these first foreign policy statements the new US President Donald Trump has caused great insecurity in the transatlantic community. Everything that had been taken for granted, the community of values, the common belief in international organizations like the UN, and the common understanding of a global threats like climate change seemed to have disappeared overnight.
This new tone in transatlantic relations already has first broader consequences in European, and particularly German public opinion: before the November election 2016 59% of the German public saw the US as a trustworthy international partner, now this has dropped to historically low 21 %.
Looking at the close transatlantic partnership over the last 70 years, how was it possible that a candidate won the US elections with such a nationalistic and even anti-European rhetoric? And why have only a few months of the Trump presidency already lead to a strong renaissance of anti-Americanism in Europe? Should this community of values not be more resilient to these challenges, especially in times when digitalization seems to bring us closer together?
What went wrong?
Over the last 28 years, our societies and our perceptions of each other have significantly changed due to more diverse demographics, the Post-Cold War world order, and socio-economic consequences of globalization. Despite these changes, the core narrative of transatlantic relations has mainly stayed the same and has hardly been able to adjust to the new realities. In addition, international dialog and cosmopolitan thinking has mostly thrived in urban and economic hubs, while many rural and economically weak regions have been disconnected from these developments. There, international exchange and interaction is mostly not seen as an opportunity but rather as a threat, often leading to nationalistic and isolationistic sentiments.
To counter the growing political divide and disconnect and formulate a new transatlantic narrative, it is imminent that we reach out to these unrepresented parts of our societies and try to include them into the conversation as best as possible.
What can be done?
In my opinion, the key to diversify transatlantic relations is strenthening and promoting international exchange in educational systems on both sides of the Atlantic. First-hand intercultural experiences are crucial for a more tolerant and peaceful society and for fostering international understanding.
In practical terms, this not only means strengthening the already existing transatlantic exchange programs on high school and university level, but also extending the access to intercultural experiences to these groups of studens who are normally not amongst the „usual suspects“: students with difficult social backgrounds, students who might not aim for a college or university degree, students from migrant communities or from regions with no tradition of transatlantic exchange.
Even though student exchange from Germany to the US is flourishing, most of these students come from the higher education branch, the so called „Gymnasium“, representing only 35% of all German high school students. In this regard, gaining experiences abroad highly depends on the student’s individual level of education and his or her economic and family background.
In the US, exchange numbers are slowly on the rise, but mostly at the college and university level. Still, only one out of ten undergraduate students has had any experience abroad before graduating and only 27% of these students have a minority background.
In order to promote international understanding in all parts of society this imbalance has to be adressed: Strengthening scholarship systems for international student exchange, including intercultural education into the school curricula, and offering more extracurricular and volunteer programs abroad could be useful tools to increase intercultural competences among young people.
In this regard, it is important to raise more awareness for the value of transatlantic exchange through multipliers in the educational system, like teachers or educational experts and administrators. Giving teachers an international experience of their own would enable them to pass their experiences on to their students and encourage them to go abroad themselves. Involving educational experts and administrators could help to change the structural negelct that we still find in our educational systems when it comes to intercultural education.
There are already some best-practice programs that particularly address these multipliers, like the Goethe Institute’s Transatlantic Outreach Program for US teachers and educational experts or the Atlantikbrücke’s study trips for US social study teachers and teachers from Eastern Germany.
These initiatives and the impact they have on their participants provide good examples how international education can be a great asset to our educational systems. We have to extend these kind of programs in order to multiply their effects and bring international experiences to a wider range of students and educational stakeholders.
For me, this is the best and most sustainable approach possible to bring our societies closer together, to increase knowledge and understanding about each other, and make the next generation of Europeans and Americans ready to continue the transalantic partnership.
Hi Anda,
I completely agree that youth exchange in the context of (more or less) formal education is one angle, but could you imagine further possibilities to include the transatlantic partnership in (formal or informal) education? Would like to hear your thoughts!
Greetings,
Hendrik
Dear Hendrik, many thanks for your question! If we assume (and I do) intercultural experiences and exchange have a positive effect on individuals and society, then we should definitely look beyond school and include informal youth exchange, volunteering etc. into the tool box. I still think that the multipliers within the educational system do have the strongest impact (also in promoting more international exchange), but it might sometimes not be enough to reach already underrepresented groups in exchange programs, like minorities or students not aiming for the academic branch. In this regard informal programs can fill a gap.
In addition, I think we should look out for more best-practice exchange on educational topics, like vocational training programs or entrepreneurial education.
Hi Anda,
I enjoyed reading your article and I found it quite interesting! I especially like the points you brought up covering intercultural education. I think there is a lack of this kind of skill set which is vital to todays increasingly global world.
Like you said, student exchanges should be instigated across the spectrum, not just at the university level and not only from one side of the Atlantic. From my experience working with student exchanges and in a study abroad office, I know one of the problems keeping American students from going abroad is not only cost but time. In high school, it’s almost impossible to take any time in the semester off and not get behind in your class. At the university level it’s can be just as hard depending on your course of study. In the end, most students opt for shorter, summer programs and often don’t get the full immersive experience they would have had during a semester. Do you see a way to convince American educators that study abroad is worthwhile and should be built into the study programs?
Best,
Allison
Dear Allison, many thanks for your comment! You actually touch on an issue that I can see in more and more in the German university system, too. Semester schedules are so packed and not really flexible, so that more and more students do shorter terms abroad or postpone it till they are finished with their B.A. I think, this is a challenge strongly connected with my main point: intercultural competence and the impact it can have on the students’ personal development is not as highly valued as it should be in our educational systems. To change that it is crucial to change “hearts and minds” of educational stakeholders and decisionmakers by offering them “first-hand experiences” abroad and engage them afterwards as credible messengers for the value of international exchange.
Hey Anda,
I liked your article and idea of exchange (although high schools pupils represent 43% of all pupils and the number is growing; your source was from 2012- have a look at page 78 here: http://www.bildungsbericht.de/de/bildungsberichte-seit-2006/bildungsbericht-2016/pdf-bildungsbericht-2016/bildungsbericht-2016).
On the one hand you argue for more exchange students from lower education, on the other hand you´d like to foster exchange for teachers. Did you mean that teachers in lower education (below high school) could encourage those students to go for an exchange?
@Hendrik Alexander Lux: I´d recommend you to take a look at articles concerning virtual exchanges. This also tackles the issues Anda mentioned concerning time and money.
Dear Jonas, many thanks for the updated numbers! I could only find the older version, when I looked up the report. I think that students, especially the ones from the non-university school branch, need strong support from their teachers to encourage them to take off on such an adventure. But for that teachers need information, awareness and systemic support. Very often exchange programs in schools depend on one or two engaged teachers investing their personal time. This is why teachers can be only one target group, educational experts, administrators, and other stakeholders are important, too.
Hello Anda,
I agree that educational exchange should definitely be on the agenda of any new transatlantic strategy and I enjoyed reading that you want to include the teachers in these exchanges as well. As role models for their students they should indeed have transatlantic experiences of their own. However, US approval rates have always been fluctuating as they depend on momentous crises or scandals. While the drop from 59% in November 2016 (not 70%, see here http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtrend-809~magnifier_pos-2.html) to 21% in June 2017 is significant, these changes are not novel (e.g. http://www.zeit.de/politik/2013-11/deutschlandtrend-obama-snowden-nsa) but rather point towards a long trend of declining trust in the US.
Dear Christin, …autsch for my “fake news moment” (not checking my own sources twice ;-)) and thank you for pointing out the correct numbers. You are, of course, totally right, it was 59% before the election. I also agree with you that there has been a longterm decline in trust towards the US for the last 30 years largely influenced by ups and downs of transatlantic relations like the Pershing II installations in the 1980ies, the 2003 Iraq war or recently the NSA scandal. Nevertheless, I see the current low as the latest dramatic sign for a crawling alienation between significant parts of our societies that has started long before Trump got elected. There have been significant demographic and value-based shifts on both sides of the Atlantic. Still, transatlantic relations are mainly defined by the historical narrativ of the community of values pretending that we still know each other by heart. In my opinion, this is dangerous in times when we face strong political polarization within and between our societies over exactly many of these values that we would originally define as transatlantic or Western. That’s why we should keep up the value of first-hand transatlantic experiences in order to get to know each other and learn from each other, again. Looking forward to your thoughts!
Dear Anda,
you brought up two extremely important concepts in your response that I feel capture the current tension in our transatlantic relations: “crawling alienation” and “historical narrative.” We indeed see a crawling alienation between the two-sides of the Atlantic (and even within the EU, I might add) and one important step in modernizing closer transatlantic ties would be to trace where these alienations are rooted in. Has it began with the end of the Marshall Plan? Was it due to the Cold War dividing Germany? Was it the “us vs. them” rhetoric after 9/11? Was it the economic’s slow down-fall after the ‘golden era’ of the 60s and 70s?
I also agree with you that focusing on a historical narrative bears with it the danger of framing transatlantic relations in an out-dated manner and that we need to work on defining today’s transatlantic relationships and their manifestations.
Dear Christin,
many thanks for raising this important point! The transatlantic partnership has never been a solely harmonic one, so it is legitimate to ask if we ever had these strong relations the historical narrative always describes.
Even though I think it is important to underline that there has been always the ups and downs in the relationship, I would see the end of the Cold War as the tipping point. The one defining reason for the partnership – the confrontation with the Soviet Union- was gone and demographic change in both countries has brought new perspectives into our societies. There are studies that show that political polarization in the US has already started in the mid-1990ies and has changed general views on US foreign policy engagement. In Germany, the reunification process brought together two parts of the country with totally different historical experiences with the US. In addition (or due) to these internal developments, I think we have just forgotten to update our perception of one another and to take into consideration the political and social shifts that have caused many of the fractions we see in current transatlantic relations.
Hi Anda, I agree with you completely! In this world, that gets more and more complex every day, intercultural experiences is such a profound competence. Sadly, this quality is not suffiently fostered or trained in our current school system. I like the idea of teachers promoting it more profoundly in their classrooms. Would you only say the language teachers should participate in exchange programs or also teachers from other subjects, for example civics education?
Dear Katharina,
many thanks for your comment! Language teachers are surely a natural target group for these kind of exchanges, but they are not the only ones who can serve as valuable multipliers. The already existing programs I mentioned in my text mainly target social science or history teachers, who I would see as essential for promoting a better understanding between Europe/Germany and the US. There are even some study tours for STEM teachers included in these programs. This makes perfect sense, if we define intercultural competence in school education as an essential professional skill for an educator and/or if these programs can provide exchange on common challenges or best-practices in technical education.
Hi Anda,
Thanks your for interesting article. I think you made clear that non-profit organisations could find new ways serving individuals actively involved in the internationalisation of their institutions through a combination of training, conferences and knowledge acquisition and sharing. I think there are already a lot of international educational exchange programs sponsored by the U.S. government, the E.U. or Germany. What do you think, how can we equip academic and non-academic professionals with best practices and workable solutions to internationalisation challenges and provide a platform for strategic exchange?
Greetings
Tim
Dear Tim,
many thanks for your commentl! You are right, there are already a lot of exchange programs especially in the field of young leaders, science or academics, which are important and essential für the transatlantic partnerships. But as I described above, I still see a lot of potential for increasing the number of exchanges in certain parts of the educations system in order to expand intercultural competences and mutual understanding. But no matter which field, I think the key for making these intercultural exchanges sustainable is to embed participants after their participation as alumni. The initial exchange can only be the trigger to further engage them as transatlantic bridgebuilders. In the case of the educational programs I mentioned in my text, participants do not only take part in study trips, but are also involved in workshops for educating other teachers and designing school materials after they have returned home. Formats, like conferences and workshops on edcuational topcis (vocational (training or technical education), can provide similar effects for educational experts and stakeholders. I am not sure if I have completely answered your question, but I would be more than happy to follow up on that, if you have further questions.
Hi Anda,
I liked your article, and agree with you that opportunities to travel and learn abroad are important instruments to facilitate cross-cultural exchange. I also liked your idea to emphasize exchange programs for teachers, who help influence students perceptions of the world. However, these programs can be cost prohibitive to many potential students. You mention the importance of encouraging travel through scholarship opportunities and by increasing the number of exchange programs. What funding sources do you have in mind for reducing the costs associated with these type of programs? Thanks!
Dear James,
many thanks for your comment and many thanks for your patience! I had a pretty busy week at work and could not get back earlier. With your comment you definitely raise the question that is most important for most of our ideas and suggstions on this plattform, but the one that is definitely the most difficult to answer: how to finance it. I would actually not just enlarge the number of exchange programs, but try to work more effectively what is already there and see how this can be backed up with some new programs and formats.
First, we should map the already existing transatlantic programs for high school students and stakeholders in the education system. Then, this information should be made more accesible through more centralized online plattforms.
Second, we should use this data to see where it would make sense for initiatives, organizations, and public-funded programs to cooperate more closely and to make their work more effective in a common framework. This could mean more public-private partnerships for offering and financing exchange programs or stipends.
Third, the idea to reach out to teachers and make them multipliers for international exchange needs to go hand in hand with providing them with more and better information what programs are out there and what stipend opportunities might help more of their studends to participate in exchange programs. For this, more centralized information is essential.
Fourth, we need to think about formats beyond the traditional high-school or university year abroad. Especially for younger students, shorter stays abroad (a few weeks already) could be great start to dip their toes in the water and might encourage them to apply for longer exchanges afterwards. Other tools could be online school projects with participating classes from both sides of the Atlantic . These virtual encounters could be backed up with study trips to the other country visiting the other schools involved. There are also programs for schools classes who want to bring in US or German university exchange students to give presentations on their country, their culture, and important current issues. These kind of interactions might not be as good as personal encounters, but could be a start to a better understanding of transatlantic relations. What do you think?
Hi Anda, you have some good suggestions. I like your idea for working with pre-existing exchange programs, and agree that centralizing information online can help focus efforts and appeal to students. I think that online communication between American and German students is a relatively cost effective way to connect people who may not be able to afford even short-term overseas travel. It is important to have study abroad and exchange programs outside of the traditional academic setting, and there may be value in programs like these that are open to people who are not enrolled at a university. Thanks!
Hi Anda, thanks for the interesting article. When I came to Germany to study, I was shocked by how many of my German classmates had studied in the US at the high school level when, looking at back at my friends from high school (and I went to a pretty good high school), I couldn’t think of anyone that studied abroad for a year or even a semester. How can American students be encouraged to go abroad for a semester or a year in high school? While the student gets plenty of learning experience, I think one of the interesting facets is for the host school and all of the other students around the visiting student – they get a free cultural teacher for a year!
Dear Andrew,
many thanks for you comment! Your question fits perfectly to the point I wanted to make: how can we increase awareness and support for international exchange ?
For the structural support I can only underline how important it is to win over teachers and educational stakeholders and provide more centralized information plattforms. Regarding the individual level, I think you mentioned one very important point yourself already: every exchange student is also an ambassador for his/her respective country and for the value of exchange itself. Schools should make more use of the exchange students they host: let them do presentations on their home country and how this year abroad will provide them with additional skills (like speaking another language fluently, knowing another culture, being independent) that they would otherwise not learn in school.
Another crucial factor: win over the parents. There should be more information directed to parents and families provided by schools: What are the advantages, what are the costs, what kind of stipend or scholarhsip can I apply for? These are all small steps, but if it is possible to work on these different ends (structural and individual level) at the same time, it can make a difference. What do you think?